The Black Keys go back to their roots with swampy cover of John Lee Hooker’s Crawling Kingsnake

Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys performs onstage at the 2020 iHeartRadio ALTer EGO at The Forum on January 18, 2020 in Inglewood, California.
(Image credit: Rich Fury/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

After announcing new blues covers album, Delta Kream, yesterday, The Black Keys have officially released its first single, a version of John Lee Hooker’s 1949 track, Crawling King Snake.

The new rendition, like the album on which it appears, sees Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney go back to their roots, not only in terms of their influences, but also The Black Keys’ grittier, slide-heavy early material.

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Michael Astley-Brown
Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.